Burst Balloons, Burnt Burgers and Other Disasters
by The Lonely Geek
Summary: Rumple refuses to tell Belle when his birthday is so she's determined to find out why he doesn't want to and decides to throw him the best birthday he's ever had. Fluffy Rumbelle one-shot.


_**I've been meaning to do a Rumbelle fanfic for ages and my sister gave me this idea, so here's the result. Just a short fluffy one-shot. Hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think :)**_

 _ **Burst balloons, burnt burgers and other disasters**_

"Come on Rumple," Belle smiled, taking his hand and giving it a small squeeze. "Everyone's got birthday."

"Well if you were as old as I," He replied, restraining himself from smiling at her eagerness to find out. "Then you'd find birthdays just plain depressing."

"But they're a time for celebration," Belle argued. "Just because your life is slightly longer than most."

"Slightly longer?" Rumple raised his eyebrow at Belle. "Who was the last person you met who has been alive for centuries?"

"Killian," Belle replied immediately. "I'm sure he still celebrates his birthday." Rumple rolled his eyes.

"Just drop it Belle," He told her. "I've survived perfectly well not celebrating for the last few centuries."

"Fine," Belle told him. "But I think you're just being silly."

"Did you just call the Dark One silly?" Rumple glared in fake anger at her and she laughed. "You can think what you want but you're not going to change my mind." Then he walked from behind the counter towards the door of the shop. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to pick our son up from school."

"I can do it," Belle offered, rushing forwards, worried that she may have upset Rumple. "You got him yesterday."

"Don't tell me there's some law about me not being allowed to pick my son up from school two days in a row," Rumple sighed. "I promised him that I'd take him to Granny's after school today so that him and Neal could work on some project together."

"I thought you hated Granny's," Belle said. "Last time I suggested we go there for dinner you wouldn't go."

"I do hate Granny's," He said. "But the Charming family insist on doing everything at Granny's, so I am forced to go occasionally despite my best efforts to avoid it." With that he walked out of the shop, the bell left jangling behind him.

Belle sighed. She wished that Rumple wouldn't be so closed up sometimes. She could tell that he was lying about why he didn't celebrate his birthday anymore. She was determined to find out when his birthday was though. She'd show him that he could be happy on his birthday. She decided to close the shop up early and head out to the woods for a walk.

She was just about to cross the Toll Bridge when she saw Killian and Emma walking towards her. "Hi Belle," Emma smiled. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Belle replied. "I was actually wanting to talk to you Killian."

"How can I be of assistance?" Killian asked.

"Do you know when Rumple's birthday is?" Belle asked. "I asked him earlier but he wouldn't tell me and he just completely closed up."

"Aye," Killian replied. "And I know why he closed up when you asked him."

"Why?" Belle questioned, wondering how Killian knew so much about Rumple when they used to be enemies.

"It was his birthday when Milah left him to be with me," Killian explained. "She felt guilty about not giving him one last day together."

"And when's that?"

"Next Tuesday I believe," Killian told her. "The 14th."

"That soon?" Belle asked. "No wonder he seemed upset when I pressed him about it."

"I'm glad I could be of assistance," Killian smiled. "Is that all?"

"Yes, thank you," Belle replied, walking on, deep in thought. She wanted to do something special for him, but she also wanted to respect his privacy. Maybe she'd just bake him a cake and get Snow or someone to look after Gideon for the evening so that they could spend some time alone together.

 _ **Next Tuesday**_

"Surprise!" Belle smiled as Rumple walked into their living room after he had closed the shop up. Rumple looked around and saw the room was covered in balloons and a banner had been put up reading " _Happy Birthday Rumple"_ in Belle's neat swirly writing. "Happy birthday." Belle said, hugging Rumple as he stood in shock.

"Belle I thought I told you I don't want a fuss over my birthday," He said, gesturing all the balloons. "How did you get hold of so many balloons and blow them up anyway?" He asked in confusion.

"Well there's this magical concept called the internet, it's probably beneath the Dark One," She smirked. "But it turns out that you can order 400 balloons with free delivery really easily and Henry didn't mind giving me a hand to blow them up." She told him before adding. "It got him out of doing his homework." Rumple smiled slightly at this.

"You shouldn't be encouraging my grandson with bad habits," He told her. "But I still don't want to celebrate my birthday. How did you find out when it was? Did that pirate tell you?"

"Former pirate," Belle reminded him. "And he also told me why you don't want to celebrate your birthday."

"Well he should keep his nose out of other people's business," Rumple complained.

"Well I'm glad he told me," Belle told him. "Why do you always do this Rumple? Your past is in the past. You need to stop punishing yourself for Milah leaving you. You deserve your happiness. Just have a drink." She told him, picking a cup and glass with iced tea in. She passed him the cup and he smiled slightly when he saw it was the chipped cup.

"You really do love this cup don't you?"

"Like I said the day we got married, sometimes the best teacups are chipped," Belle smiled as they clinked glass/teacup.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to just have a meal together," Rumple said grudgingly after taking a sip of the iced tea. "As long as I don't have to go to Granny's."

"I made us hamburgers so we don't," Belle smiled. "They should be done in about 5 minutes."

"That gives us just enough time," Rumple smiled.

"For what?" Belle asked in confusion as Rumple took her hand.

"I assume you still like to dance," He replied and Belle smiled, letting him lead her around the room, somehow avoiding all the balloons that were scattered all over. They were so engrossed in the dance that neither of them had noticed the burning smell coming from the kitchen until smoke started filling the room.

"The burgers!" Belle exclaimed, quickly rushing through to the kitchen, popping several balloons with her heels in her haste. When she pulled the tray out of the oven, she saw there were only shrivelled lumps of blackened meat on the tray. "I'm so sorry Rumple." She said, turning around and seeing Rumple bursting out laughing at it.

"I guess we will be going to Granny's after all," He said, taking the tray off her and scraping the burgers into the bin.

"But you hate Granny's," Belle protested.

"Yes, but even I have to admit that the burgers there are better than whatever it was you just took out of the oven," He smiled. "Come on, I'll go and get our coats."


End file.
